Preview — Kanthapura
by Raja Rao

Kanthapura

This is the story of how Mahatma Gandhi's struggle for independence from the British came to a typical village, Kanthapura, in South India. This edition includes extensive notes on Indian myths, religion, social customs, and the Independence movement which fill out the background for the American reader's more complete understanding and enjoyment.

Community Reviews

Mala warned me that I’d be scratching my head. And it was lovely! But this ND editions provided sixty pages of helpful notes which reduced somewhat that head scratching. But not so much that there was no pleasure left!

The story is the common story of a rural village undergoing political change. But I’m not immediately certain that this kind of story is so common; in our current literary climate which so frequently features alienated individuals as protagonists. Here the comMahatma Gandhi ki jai!

Mala warned me that I’d be scratching my head. And it was lovely! But this ND editions provided sixty pages of helpful notes which reduced somewhat that head scratching. But not so much that there was no pleasure left!

The story is the common story of a rural village undergoing political change. But I’m not immediately certain that this kind of story is so common; in our current literary climate which so frequently features alienated individuals as protagonists. Here the community is the protagonist. And there are many individuals within this community. They become one in order to fight a violent colonial occupation. The novel is violent. Alone to experience how violent the practice of non-violence becomes, the violence which practitioners of non-violence must undergo, suffer, is reason enough to read this one.

Since we are in the realm of Gandhi here one is inevitably tempted to respond to the frequent, uninformed common wisdom that, Pacifism and non-violence and non-resistance may be good ideas, but they don’t work! And violence does? And further, today when everyone in the know knows that religion is the cause of violence, we again have to wonder about the most violent regimes of the twentieth century, the fact that they were all secular and that one of them survives into the twenty-first century, still ruling the world -- and compare with Gandhi’s own religiously grounded non-violent organization. It takes an army to resist violence! And it takes willful ignorance of the evidence to declare both the non-functioning of non-violence, and religion as the source of violence. Just look around, folks.

Prose? Our narrator, a village wise woman, cultural repository who indeed knows the village of Kanthapura inside and out, backwards and forwards, is a master of the run-on sentence, the breathlessness of it, and hers should be filed along with that set of aesthetically astounding descriptions of violence, and she can list a list right in along with those run-ons! This is how story telling is!

Tradition. From the article I link below, I learn that Raja Rao is among a trio of early writers of Indian fiction in English. The adoption of the language of the colonial occupiers cannot be a neutral fact, to my lights. But what I know about Indian fiction pre-Rushdie is nil. But we are in an excellent position, however, here on goodreads, being surrounded by so many excellent readers from India. Specifically, Mala tells me that, despite the opinion of the article linked below, Kanthapur is not Raja Rao’s best ; to be considered also she recommends, The Serpent and the Rope and The Chessmaster and His Moves. Sounds reasonable!

Read it for its prose, read it for its politics, read it as a history lesson, read it as a nice change from yet another boring writer-dude from NYC, read it as an important canonical work, read it for the pleasure of it, read it as a lesson in violence, read it to see another small corner of the world, read it because you will be cooking paneer dal of some kind tonight. Read it because it’s an excellent little novel.

"Raj Rao was the last of the canonical “founding fathers” of Indian English-language fiction to pass away. The triumvirate—which included RK Narayan and Mulk Raj Anand—were all born in the first decade of the twentieth century, and expired softly about a hundred years later. Their lives and careers bridged a century of enormous transformation in India. Wrestling the Indian experience into English, they set the stage for generations of writers who could inhabit the language without feeling out of place.

"With so many South Asians now twinkling in the firmament of English letters, it’s easy to forget how new such writing was at the time. Anand’s friend George Orwell described English-language Indian literature as a “strange phenomenon” and a “cultural curiosity.” He doubted that it would manage any lasting significance. “It is difficult to believe,” Orwell wrote, “that it has a literary future.”

"His position looks rather ridiculous given the successes of the last fifty years. English-language fiction has safely ensconced itself among India’s various literary traditions. It offers a deeply rutted path for younger writers to follow, bumping along. They no longer need to ask for the validation of Western publishers. The domestic market for Indian English fiction (whether highbrow or “mythological thriller”) is incomparably larger and more established than it was in Rao’s day. English is a natural medium for Indians to express their imaginations to each other, and not simply to readers in the West."http://caravanmagazine.in/books/india...[thanks to the complete review guy!]

I remember driving along the road from K.R. Pet to Nagamangala and coming across a board that said Kanthapura. I knew this was going to be my next book.

I expected stories from around this place, of the Hassan belt, but Raja Rao's Kanthapura existed elsewhere - on the banks of the (fictional) Himavathy river, nearer Karwar, near Puttur and still walkable from the Cauvery. Like Malgudi, it is fictional.

Unlike R.K. Narayan's tales about a few people living in Malgudi, this is the tale of the townI remember driving along the road from K.R. Pet to Nagamangala and coming across a board that said Kanthapura. I knew this was going to be my next book.

I expected stories from around this place, of the Hassan belt, but Raja Rao's Kanthapura existed elsewhere - on the banks of the (fictional) Himavathy river, nearer Karwar, near Puttur and still walkable from the Cauvery. Like Malgudi, it is fictional.

Unlike R.K. Narayan's tales about a few people living in Malgudi, this is the tale of the town itself - its quiet ways, its characters, and then its non-violent uprising against British rule, the uprising being crushed, and the people having to abandon the town. There are no happy endings, just that life goes on, in a different place.

The language is poetic, and very literally translated from Kannada. There are the rhetorical - "The police are your uncle's sons?" and the more recognisable "I fall at your feet" (aD-bidde). But given that the narrator is an old woman, it fits. The names are also funny and accessible - Nose-digging Nanjamma, Waterfall Venkatamma, etc. There's also a fair degree of Magical Realism keeping in nature with being an old woman's recounting of actual happenings with some embellishments. The writing is more in line with regional writers like Shivaram Karanth, S.L. Bhyrappa and U.R. Ananathamurthy, and I mean that in a good way. Even though the language is English, the core stays firmly local.

This is a shining example of the kind of books that professors set for mandatory reading that make you want to scratch your own eyeballs out with a rolling pin. I don't even know where to begin to explain exactly why I hate this book so much.

It may go something like the terrible grammar and the stupid characters and the over describing and the author's pomposity and the and the and the and the AND THE AND THE AND THE AND THE!!!

How many times can one man use the words "AND" in one paragraph? AccThis is a shining example of the kind of books that professors set for mandatory reading that make you want to scratch your own eyeballs out with a rolling pin. I don't even know where to begin to explain exactly why I hate this book so much.

It may go something like the terrible grammar and the stupid characters and the over describing and the author's pomposity and the and the and the and the AND THE AND THE AND THE AND THE!!!

How many times can one man use the words "AND" in one paragraph? According to one little random page test I just conducted, the number is 34. THIRTY FOUR TIMES.

Loved reading Kanthapura.This novel is a complete mixture of Religion,Mythology and History. What I personally liked the most that in this novel, the grand harikathas finely blend politics with religious and mythology. The fights between mahatma and british draws the picture of the fight between Rama and Ravana, between the forces of good and evil like Krishna against the Kalia or Kansa, Prahlad against his own father, Harishchandra against the Asuras, Besides, the mahatma is Mohan (Krishna) slaLoved reading Kanthapura.This novel is a complete mixture of Religion,Mythology and History. What I personally liked the most that in this novel, the grand harikathas finely blend politics with religious and mythology. The fights between mahatma and british draws the picture of the fight between Rama and Ravana, between the forces of good and evil like Krishna against the Kalia or Kansa, Prahlad against his own father, Harishchandra against the Asuras, Besides, the mahatma is Mohan (Krishna) slaying the serpent of foreign rule. Again Gandhi is compared to Rama as well as Shiva, Motherland is compared to Sita and the british Government is compared to Ravana.

Shankara is a "veritable dharmraj" and swaraj is compared to the three eyed shiva. As a gandhian economic programme Moorthy distributes chakras among the village women and inspires them to spin chakras and weave cloth. He asks people to boycott foreign goods

"the money that goes to red man, will stay within your country and the mother can feed the foodless and the milkless and the clothless."Advocates Shankara wears Khadi and appeals to others to do so.

Rao uses English to try to communicate an Indiana vernacular mode of storytelling, with very intriguing (if long-winded) results. The story itself revolve around the rise of Ghandi, and ends on a rather ubiquitous note.

The book is a good one but mind that it is heavy with Gandhian principles. The protagonist Moorthy is a adherent follower of the principles of Ahimsa and Satyagraha. The village people give him the reverence equivalent to that given to a "Mahatma". There are many instances when Moorthy's being a brahmin poses a slight hinderance in his venture but he overcomes all of them and continues to fight againt the atrocities of the "Government". These goals cost Moorthy his lives. Many other villagers loThe book is a good one but mind that it is heavy with Gandhian principles. The protagonist Moorthy is a adherent follower of the principles of Ahimsa and Satyagraha. The village people give him the reverence equivalent to that given to a "Mahatma". There are many instances when Moorthy's being a brahmin poses a slight hinderance in his venture but he overcomes all of them and continues to fight againt the atrocities of the "Government". These goals cost Moorthy his lives. Many other villagers loose their lives in the processions that they carry out.The ending of the novel is a bit dis-satisfying as the title village "Kanthapura" is left barren, all in ruins. Only the patel of the village stays back there and other people settle in some other village.Rao's use of language is appreciated. His language has the capability to retain the essence of the south indian culture....more

The best part of this book is the honest account of rural India. The narration will make you feel like listening to some rural folk. If you are familiar with rural India then you too will acknowledge the striking similarity in the language.

Raja Rao’s “Kanthapura” . . . a fascinating read! I was reasonably aware of Mahatma Gandhi’s struggle with the British to gain independence (Swaraj). Gandhi’s methodology combining non-violence (Ahimsa) and truth (Satya) has been studied by such great men as Dr. Martin Luther King and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. However this novel depicts the tension that Gandhi fomented within Indian society amongst different castes. The four major castes consist of Brahmin (priestly), Kshatriya (kingly or warrior), VRaja Rao’s “Kanthapura” . . . a fascinating read! I was reasonably aware of Mahatma Gandhi’s struggle with the British to gain independence (Swaraj). Gandhi’s methodology combining non-violence (Ahimsa) and truth (Satya) has been studied by such great men as Dr. Martin Luther King and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. However this novel depicts the tension that Gandhi fomented within Indian society amongst different castes. The four major castes consist of Brahmin (priestly), Kshatriya (kingly or warrior), Vaisya (mercantile and agricultural), and Sudra (artisan). There are also non-caste, outcasts, and untouchables. “According to Hindu tradition, everyone is bound to the caste in which he is born, as determined by the good and bad actions of his prior existence (karma)” (p.223). The hero of this story, Moorthy, has returned to his southern Indian village (Kanthapura) near Mysore as a Gandhi devotee. His revolutionary ideas are a challenge to the Brahmin upper caste and to those in league with British colonial rule. The story unfolds with brutal awareness that non-violent techniques will result in horrific confrontations with those in power. However the story conveys how Indians of all castes began to queue up behind independence forces and a radical new mode of thinking. In addition to Raja Rao’s epic story telling, I highly recommend the notes on Indian myths, religion, social customs, and brief history of the Independence movement at the end of the book. Raja Rao won the coveted Neustadt International Prize for Literature prior to his death in 2006....more

I have never seen such experimentation with language and grammar as in this novel. It truly reflects the state of society in times of British rule over India. The author seems to be thinking in Hindi and writing in English. To put it in words of his editor Parthasarthy,'We might be intellectually English but emotionally we are Indians.'

A great insight into society and culture and religion and casteism and Gandhi and British. That is the way you will find the expression in this book. Human emotioI have never seen such experimentation with language and grammar as in this novel. It truly reflects the state of society in times of British rule over India. The author seems to be thinking in Hindi and writing in English. To put it in words of his editor Parthasarthy,'We might be intellectually English but emotionally we are Indians.'

A great insight into society and culture and religion and casteism and Gandhi and British. That is the way you will find the expression in this book. Human emotions have been dealt with quite well. Typical Indian thought process shown and one does feel closer to reality of those times even though the work is only inspired by the reality.

This book can be annoying for few readers but I did not mind the experimentation by Raja Rao. One also understands the Gandhi-ism better with this book and reasons as to why so many people were supporting him. A must read atleast for all Indians. ...more

This was just....not good. The amalgamation of myth and reality could have been done in a much more comprehensive and smooth manner. Here, its confusing and makes the work more convoluted than it should be.

It is such a difficult read, been almost a year and I still can't finish it. Finally I have decided to call quits on it now.

It's almost like the author decided against writing a readable piece of literature. One reason could be to give it a distinctive flavour of South India, and to be fair that leaps out of the pages. It does feel like well grounded in it's context. The characters, the language, the prose and the stroyline are all so difficult to follow, but at the same time they evoke these sIt is such a difficult read, been almost a year and I still can't finish it. Finally I have decided to call quits on it now.

It's almost like the author decided against writing a readable piece of literature. One reason could be to give it a distinctive flavour of South India, and to be fair that leaps out of the pages. It does feel like well grounded in it's context. The characters, the language, the prose and the stroyline are all so difficult to follow, but at the same time they evoke these scenes right in front of you, particularly if you've been to one of the quaint towns in South India. In that sense, it is much closer to Malgudi, this comparison would've invariably come up.

At the same time, I just wish it was as good a read as Malgudi series, and it's here this book is so far away from the latter. ...more

The voice of the narrator, her character, sense of humour, worldview, & her connection to & love for her community are so strong in this tale of Gandhian satyagraha & Congress' efforts at swaraj come to small-town South India. Our narrator - an older aunty of the village of Kanthapura - is the perfect voice to communicate the experience of this time for everyday rural Indians, and her story unfolds as if she is relating a series of events to us, perhaps acquaintances or family of a nThe voice of the narrator, her character, sense of humour, worldview, & her connection to & love for her community are so strong in this tale of Gandhian satyagraha & Congress' efforts at swaraj come to small-town South India. Our narrator - an older aunty of the village of Kanthapura - is the perfect voice to communicate the experience of this time for everyday rural Indians, and her story unfolds as if she is relating a series of events to us, perhaps acquaintances or family of a neighbouring village. Those with an interest or familiarity with the history will perhaps get more out of it, as there are many layers of tradition, cultural practice, & politics to process, but there is a handy glossary of cultural terms for the less familiar. An immersive & wonderfully captivating read....more

Kanthapura by Raja Rao ( 214 pg, 4 days, Rating : 5/5)Published in 1938, this book was written, about the pre-independence struggle of India, by Rao far away from India in a castle in France. It's definitely a 'literary manifesto to point out an Indian way of appropriating English Language( which was a brabe work during pre-independence of India). From phrarses, to words, to narrative( an typical tale-telling- grandmotherly way of narrative) Indianness runs through the veins of this book.

HoweveKanthapura by Raja Rao ( 214 pg, 4 days, Rating : 5/5)Published in 1938, this book was written, about the pre-independence struggle of India, by Rao far away from India in a castle in France. It's definitely a 'literary manifesto to point out an Indian way of appropriating English Language( which was a brabe work during pre-independence of India). From phrarses, to words, to narrative( an typical tale-telling- grandmotherly way of narrative) Indianness runs through the veins of this book.

However, this book may seem a little boring because of less use of 'fullstops' and extreme use of 'and'....more

Finest of Indian litreature in English. It does not lean on the translatory mode to give the native flavour. The ease with which the english gets indianized is remarkable. Raja Rao best is relevent even after eight decades

This is the first book I have read by Raja Rao, and I was hooked after reading the first few lines. Not for the plot, but for the musical, lyrical quality of his prose. Words tumble in great succession and bring alive the town and people of Kanthapura. As the narrator tells us of the approaching monsoon, you can almost hear the rumbling of the clouds and the whoosh of the wind. Such is the power of not just Raja Rao's words, but the way the words are strung together.

The book is a fictional accoThis is the first book I have read by Raja Rao, and I was hooked after reading the first few lines. Not for the plot, but for the musical, lyrical quality of his prose. Words tumble in great succession and bring alive the town and people of Kanthapura. As the narrator tells us of the approaching monsoon, you can almost hear the rumbling of the clouds and the whoosh of the wind. Such is the power of not just Raja Rao's words, but the way the words are strung together.

The book is a fictional account of a quaint little village in the southern part of India. Of its simple people and their beliefs and prejudices. And how the village rises when the cries of Indian freedom struggle reach its doorstep. Having a woman narrate these happenings, grounds the novel in the everyday fears and worries of the womenfolk. Unlike, other accounts of freedom struggle, the novel hits you not because you see tremendous sacrifice and acts of bravery, but because you see small sacrifices and small acts of kindness mingled with doubt and fear. Kanthapura, the village of women, that is ancient and yet current, and its people, who continue to inhabit the India of today. ...more

Kanthapura is a fictional village in Gandhi's pre-independence India. A few people in the village declare their loyalty to Gandhi's Congress movement, and over the course of the novel most of them join.

The writing is very lyrical and poetic. The grammar isn't strictly English, being written in English by an Indian as a literal translation of how it would have sounded if he had written it in his native language. It also includes repeated uses of non-English words, explained in the footnotes in thKanthapura is a fictional village in Gandhi's pre-independence India. A few people in the village declare their loyalty to Gandhi's Congress movement, and over the course of the novel most of them join.

The writing is very lyrical and poetic. The grammar isn't strictly English, being written in English by an Indian as a literal translation of how it would have sounded if he had written it in his native language. It also includes repeated uses of non-English words, explained in the footnotes in the back of the book. All of this adds to the book rather than detracts from it.

The story progresses along lines I think of as 'early union stories' (dunno if there's a proper academic term for this). Zola's Germinal about a strike at a French coal mine, or Steinbeck's In Dubious Battle about a strike by migrant farm workers. They all share a plot which spirals towards a clash between the police and workers, with a power balance so great that the outcome is foreordained. Kanthapura differs from the others by not containing communists and labor leaders. Kanthapura is about nationalism and self-determination of peoples rather than a fair wage. Despite that, the themes and development are similar, and if you appreciate one, you'll appreciate the others. I was tempted to say 'enjoy', but I think that would be out of line given the subject matter....more

Raja Rao (Kannada: ರಾಜ ರಾವ) has long been recognised as "a major novelist of our age." His five earlier novels—Kanthapura (1932), The Serpent and the Rope (1960), The Cat and Shakespeare (1965), Comrade Kirillov (1976) and The Chessmaster and His Moves (1988)—and three collections of short stories—The Cow of the Barricades and Other Stories (1947), The Policeman and the Rose (1978) and On the GangRaja Rao (Kannada: ರಾಜ ರಾವ್) has long been recognised as "a major novelist of our age." His five earlier novels—Kanthapura (1932), The Serpent and the Rope (1960), The Cat and Shakespeare (1965), Comrade Kirillov (1976) and The Chessmaster and His Moves (1988)—and three collections of short stories—The Cow of the Barricades and Other Stories (1947), The Policeman and the Rose (1978) and On the Ganga Ghat (1989)—won wide and exceptional international acclaim.

Raja Rao was awarded the 1988 Neustadt International Prize for Literature which is given every two years to outstanding world writers. Earlier, The Serpent and the Rope won the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award, India's highest literary honour. More recently, Raja Rao was elected a Fellow of the Sahitya Akademi.

Born in Mysore in 1909, Raja Rao went to Europe at the age of nineteen, researching in literature at the University of Montpellier and at the Sorbonne. He wrote and published his first stories in French and English. After living in France for a number of years, Raja Rao moved to the US where he taught at the University of Austin, Texas.

“Then the wind comes so swift and dashing that it takes the autumn leaves with it, and they rise into the juggling air, while the trees bleat and blubber. Then drops fall, big as the thumb … the earth itself seems to heave up and cheep in the monsoon rains. It churns and splashes, beats against the treetops, reckless and wilful, and suddenly floating forwards, it bucks back and spits forward and pours down upon the green, weak coffee leaves, thumping them down to the earth.”
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